Chapter Eight
Go back one chapter! I updated two today.
"When was the last time you saw your son, Mrs. Barker?" Myka asked that evening.
"Wednesday after school," Lee Ann Barker told them. "He was going to head off to that renaissance fair with his friends. When he didn't come home that night, I called the police, but they said they couldn't file a report until he'd been missing for forty-eight hours. Can you believe that? Why wouldn't I know that my son hadn't come home? He wouldn't run away!"
"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Barker," said Myka. "We're going to do everything we can to find your son."
"Can we ask you some questions?" asked Claudia.
Mrs. Barker nodded.
"These may seem a little weird, but bear with me," said Claudia. "Have you seen anything moving on its own?"
Mrs. Barker frowned and shook her head. "No."
"Anything not where you left it?" asked Claudia.
"No…" said Mrs. Barker.
"Any weird noises or voices?" asked Myka.
"Are you trying to ask me if my house is haunted?" said Mrs. Barker.
"Well…there has been an increase in—" began Myka.
"What does that have to do with my son being missing?" asked Mrs. Barker.
"We have reason to believe that—" began Myka again.
"—a ghost took my son?" said Mrs. Barker, crossing her arms angrily.
"Weirder things have happened," muttered Claudia.
"A ghost?" Mrs. Barker exclaimed in disbelief at them.
Pete rolled his eyes from where he stood at the other end of the room. Might as well move things along.
He reached out and shoved the coat stand next to him to the floor.
Mrs. Barker spun around with a jump, staring at it. "What…"
Pete then tip-toed to the hallway door, pushing it a little to get it to swing slowly open. Mrs. Barker was staring wide-eyed at it by now as Claudia and Myka took on panicked expressions.
"How are you doing this?" Mrs. Barker demanded.
"Um—" stuttered Myka. "It's—uh—"
Pete leaned closer to Mrs. Barker, blowing quietly on the back of her head to move her hair. Mrs. Barker jumped and gave a small shriek, spinning around towards him.
Pete had to duck her flying arm as he raised his voice to a higher pitch and whispered in his best Carol Ann impression, "They're here…"
Mrs. Baker screamed and took off down the hallway towards her room, slamming the door behind her.
Myka placed her hand on her hip as Pete laughed. "Was that really necessary, Pete?"
Pete gasped through his laughter. "I didn't see you coming up with anything."
"At least I could have come up with something that kept her in the room," said Myka. "Now, we'll never know if she's seen anything."
"After a reaction like that?" said Pete. "She definitely hasn't seen or heard any 'paranormal' activity."
"Well, that's…" stuttered Myka. "It's…" Her jaw hung open as her brain fought for the words—any words. "You're a child." She stormed out of the house towards their car.
"Oh, yeah!" said Pete as he followed a giggling Claudia out of the house. "Score one for the Pete-ster!" He took a fake basketball shot—not that Claudia could see it—and proceeded to make noise as though a crowd were cheering.
"You might want to put a lid on it, Pete," said Claudia as a young boy ran into the yard of the Barker house.
"Oh, come on," said Pete as he headed towards the car. "My immaturity is the only thing I can lord over her." He frowned as the boy walked right up behind Claudia and made a grab at her backside.
"Hey!" Pete exclaimed, staring down angrily at the kid—for all the good that it did.
"Hey!" Claudia exclaimed at the same time as she spun around. "Pete, what the hell?"
"It wasn't me!" Pete told her. "It was him!" He pointed at the kid—again, what good did it do?
Claudia scanned the whole yard in the front of her. "Him who?"
Pete, however, was staring at the boy…who was staring right back at him.
"You can see me?" asked the boy.
Claudia jumped at the new voice. "Whoa! Jinkies…"
"Yeah…" said Pete.
Myka climbed out of the car and marched over to them. "What is taking so long?"
"Apparently, we just found another Invisible Man," said Claudia.
"You're Marcus Barker, aren't you?" asked Pete, suddenly realizing something. "And, wait, how can you see me?" He glanced down to see that, no, he was still invisible.
"I don't know," said Marcus.
"Well, we can't see either one of you," said Myka.
Pete began to realize why that was. "You've got the artifact on you, don't you?"
"The what?" asked Marcus.
"He does?" said Claudia.
"Well, think about it," said Pete. "It wasn't at Howards place, it wasn't at Alicia's place, it wasn't in the props tent. It would make sense that the last person to disappear would have it."
Marcus frowned as he dug in his pocket. "You mean this?"
Pete stared down at the six-inch long, thick, wooden stick in his hand. It was worn and battered and definitely looked as old as the bowl. Then he noticed that Myka and Claudia were staring at it, too.
"You can see it?" he asked.
Myka nodded as she put her purple gloves on. "As soon as he pulled it out of his pocket." She held her hand out. "May I?"
Marcus frowned again and pulled it back towards himself.
"Marcus, listen to me," said Pete. "It seems cool, but we only have four days of being invisible before we disappear forever."
Marcus' eyes widened. "That's what's happening?"
"What do you mean?" asked Claudia.
Marcus stepped towards a nearby fire hydrant and bent towards it, sticking his foot through it.
"Holy…" breathed Pete.
"What?" asked Myka.
"Um…" said Pete. "He's, uh, going all…not-solid."
Myka rolled her eyes. "You mean incorporeal?"
"Yeah, that," said Pete. "Is that gonna happen to me?"
"Probably," said Myka. "But we have them both now. You're gonna be fine. Claudia."
Claudia turned to get the mortar out of the car as Myka accepted the pestle from Marcus.
Pete watched in fascination as Marcus disappeared in front of his eyes. So, it's true. The artifact makes you visible to other invisible people. Weird…
Claudia pulled the mortar from the neutralizing bag with her gloves and turned to them. "How do you want to do this?"
"Pete, Marcus," said Myka.
Pete stepped up towards her.
"Both of you take hold of the bowl," said Myka.
Pete grabbed the mortar from Claudia, watching as his hands became visible to him. He was also instantly able to see Marcus as the boy grasped the other side of it. They looked up at each other as Myka eased the pestle in between them and held it over the mortar.
"Ready?" asked Myka.
"Go for it," said Pete.
Myka let go of the pestle as she and Claudia ducked away from it. Pete also braced himself as the pestle fell into the mortar, but nothing happened—no sparks, no bright light, nothing. Marcus gave them all weird looks. Myka looked up at the mortar and pestle, glancing at them.
"Well?" asked Pete.
"Nada," said Claudia, stepping over to take the items from them. "Let's see if this works." She handed the neutralizing bag to Myka, who held it open as she dropped them into it.
Once again, they braced themselves. Once again, nothing happened.
"Well, shucks," said Pete. "Now what?"
